Teaching practicum

The third week was super busy with a teaching practicum in the mornings and meetings in the afternoon. At Cummingslodge secondary, we led maths and science lessons for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th form students (which is roughly equivalent to 8th-11th grades). I helped plan and taught food chains with three other volunteers to the 2nd and 3rd form students the first three days. The last two days we taught the nervous system to the 4th and 5th form students.
It was pretty eye opening to work with the classes. Not only did I get some much needed practice in leading a class and planning a lesson, I also learned a lot about the difference between Guyanese and American students:
-Guyanese students are very meticulous about keeping their notebooks neat. For example, they make sure that they’ve copied the board exactly as written, they use rulers to underline or draw diagrams, and they’re not allowed to tear pieces of paper out. A lot of time in class was spent letting them copy things from the board. I also noticed that they would either draw a line through any mistakes and write “cancel” or they would (neatly) remove the entire page from their books. I remember back in middle and high school that there was not particular way we had to keep our notebooks. Students would tear things out of their notebooks all of the time and would hand things in with rough edges. Here, students would never do such a thing; the one time we asked students to tear a piece of from their notebooks (before we were informed that it wasn’t allowed), most of the kids spend a long time making sure that the pieces were neat by tearing the paper with a ruler.
-teachers here are called “sir” or “miss” and their first names. For example, a male teacher would be “sir Luke”, and a female teacher “miss Lizzy”. When they answered us, it was “yes miss” or “sir” followed by the answer; much more formal than I expected. Sometimes they stood when we entered the classroom in the morning (it was a little inconsistent though; it seems like that may be a custom, but since we didn’t know the students relaxed after the first day).
-Even though we were only there for a week, it seemed like some of the students became really attached to us. On the second day, a couple of students brought me and another teacher flowers so they could show us what some of the plants we talked about looked like. Also, Colleen, my house mate, got hugs from several of the students after the second or third day.
On Friday, we had a closing ceremony with the students. A couple of them sang songs for us, there were some impromptu speeches, and we gave them certificates and snacks. It’s really unfortunate that none of us will be teaching there this year, because it was great that they came out for the week to get lessons from us.
In the afternoons we had our last orientation sessions in preparation for our dispersal along the coastal regions. After spending three weeks together adjusting to the new country, it was a little strange to leave to our sites, but I’m sure that the group will visit each other during free weekends.

Orientation highlights

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. A lot has happened, but I didn’t get a chance to finish a post at the end of the second week and I’ve been super busy with teacher training and meetings this past week. There is an internet café across the street from my house, so I’ll post a couple of times next week with the events of orientation.
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Highlights of week 2
The second week here at orientation was much slower paced than the first in terms of formal sessions, but there were some highlights of the week:
On Monday, we headed to the US embassy for a meeting about security issues to watch out for. It was like returning home for a few hours…after everyone filtered through the thorough security search (much like going through airport security), we were treated to a couple of hours of AC, hot water in the sinks, and a taste of life at the embassy. Some of the advice was unrealistic to the point of being silly for people who are going to live like Guyanese (we were advised not to use minibuses, the main form of transportation around here) but I guess for the intended audience, i.e. embassy people getting paid American wages, it was well founded. Other than the novelty of being inside, the trip was pretty uneventful.
On Wednesday, we ventured out into Georgetown for a scavenger hunt that took us through the most famous sights. Among other things, we saw the Umani yanna, the botanical gardens and the national library. We ended up going during the middle of the day, so it was super hot, but I did see a lot of sights that I wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise.
During the last week of orientation, we did practical work with the students in a local secondary school called Cummings Lodge secondary. It’s common to advance students to the next grade even if they don’t pass, but those that don’t do well enough during the year have to attend summer school. On Friday, we all headed over to present ourselves to the parents and the students we’ll be working with (a few of them at least). The students have already been in school for six weeks, and have one more week of summer classes before a one week break. However, it seems like a lot of them started their vacation a little early. It’s a little scary that the school year will be starting so soon, but this week was really good for hands on practice with other experienced teachers as a warm up. More details about the teaching practicum and some pictures are coming soon!
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Some random observations of Guyanese culture
Umbrellas: Being so close to the equator means that the climate is hot and humid all of the time, and the sun is very bright. To stay a little cooler, many Guyanese women walk around with umbrellas while outside to shade themselves. My first purchase here was an umbrella so that I could follow suit. I still sweat buckets even under the umbrella if I’m walking around during the day, but the shade does help a little.
Music: The music that I’ve heard for 90% of the time since I’ve been here has been a mash up of reggae, soca, chutney, and popular American R&B songs, especially Neyo and Rihanna (Neyo had a concert my second weekend here, and RIhanna is half Guyanese). The Guyanese love to listen to music all of the time, the louder the better. It really feels like being in a club even in the middle of the day. One quirk about the radio here that I find kind of annoying is the fact that the DJ will cut in to make announcements (or something like that….sometimes I can’t decipher what’s being said), but it seems like people tend to play their own CDs more that listen to the radio, so I haven’t heard it too much. The Guyanese are also really into 80’s music, especially during Karaoke. I’ve always considered karaoke to be a silly affair where people get up to sing badly, but Guyanese take it to another level entirely: most of the time they’ll choose slow “oldies” ballads and really get into it.
Minibuses: It feels like an adventure every time I get on. Minibuses are vans that go around town on certain routes based on the number painted on it. Usually there’s a driver and a “conductor” that takes the money and hangs out the window looking for more passengers. The one that passes by CPCE is the #44. Sometimes they deviate: when I was headed back from a trip into town with a housemate, a lot of 44 buses said they were not passing by our stop. However, they’re pretty consistent. In the city there’s a bus “station” (strip of road near the Starbroek market) where we can make transfers to another line or catch a bus back to CPCE. The driving can pretty fast…I usually try not to look out the window too much. New Amsterdam is pretty small though, so after I get to my site I probably won’t be using them too often.

Again, there's much more to come about week three and my new site in the next few days!

"Welcome to the Land of Many Waters"

The first week of orientation is coming to a close, and I hardly know where to begin!

After meeting the other 14 volunteers at JFK for the pre-departure meeting, we braved the 6 hour red eye flight to Georgetown. For orientation we're staying in the dorms at the teacher's college, Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE for short) right next to the University of Guyana. I could probably right a blog post entirely about that! We’ve been busy this week with workshops about teaching and on Guyanese culture. It’s the tail end of the rainy season, so it’s been hot and muggy most of the time. The sea breeze makes it less extreme, however, and it can be quite pleasant at night. Surprisingly, I feel cooler when I’m outside at night here that I did in Florida.

Accommodations:

We all have single rooms in the boy’s dorm of the college, but only for the 1st half....due to summer renovations, we'll have to move over to the girl's dorm in a few days. The plumbing has been cantankerous, so we've all learned the fine art of bucket showers (people have been caught soaped up when the water stops in the showers several times), bucket toilet flushing, and outdoor washing (laundry). The accommodations are simple, but honestly it hasn't been a difficult adjustment.


Food:

It's been both strange and wonderful. Strange in the sense that it's unfamiliar, and I still don't know what several dishes I've eaten are called. Also, strange in the sense that certain dishes were served at an unusual time of day (I've definitely never had tuna salad for breakfast until I got here). Even with the unfamiliarity, I've definitely eaten better food in the last week than I did 90% of the time at ND. So far, my favorite dish is roti with chicken curry (roti is a flat, flaky bread....I'm not really sure what to compare it to. Maybe a very thick and doughy tortilla, or very moist naan). I definitely come to appreciate ice a lot since I’ve been here, and the first ice cream cone I ate was marvelous… We’ve been frequent visitors of the ice cream shop since we found out about it.


Orientation:

We've talked a lot in the past week about various aspects of Guyanese culture and the school system. One of the highlights of our formal sessions was the welcoming ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Education, We were filmed and had pictures taken that are to be featured in the news. If I can find the story online, I’ll post it here. We've also been to downtown Georgetown to see which areas to avoid and where the shopping is. Kitty, our security adviser, has come to talk to us a few times and led us through Stabroek market (the place to avoid) and Bourda market (the safe shopping) so we could get a feel for the city. He also went with us to a Guyanese dance club Saturday night so that we could get a feel for the social scene, have whining (ie Guyanese dancing) lessons, and enjoy some reggae and soca music. We also visited a local Guyanese water park yesterday (ie, a lake with speedboats and kayaks available for hire), which was a nice change of pace.

I’m truly enjoying my stay in Georgetown. The group has already become like one big, unusual family as we adjust to the new environment.

Site placement and final preparations

Summer is nearly over, and the last three months seemed to fly by. I can't believe that the time to leave for Guyana is nearly here! The reality of my looming departure finally struck me when I got my site placement a couple of days ago: I'll be teaching Biology, Integrated Science, or Chemistry at Berbice High School in New Amsterdam, a small town 2 hours outside of Georgetown by road (mom no longer has to fear making an arduous journey by plane, boat, or donkey to visit!). I'll be living with two other WT volunteers on the compound of another school located a few miles away. There's a notebook (!) of information about this site from the previous volunteers that I look forward to reading when I get to Georgetown. In the meantime I looked at the website for the alumni association of my school, which looks nice but is mostly blank... Nevertheless I was able to find out that the school was founded in 1916 and was originally a religious school for boys before it was turned over to government control in the 60s.

New Amsterdam,
(Nieuw Amsterdam in Dutch), located in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region, is one of the largest towns in Guyana, sixty-two miles from the capital, Georgetown. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Berbice River and has a population of approximately 33,000 people.

The main schools in New Amsterdam are Berbice High School, Berbice Educational Institute, Vryman's Erven Secondary, Tutorial Academy, and New Amsterdam Multi-Lateral High School (opened in 1975). The town is fairly small consisting of three main roads with about a dozen cross streets. It has a Mayor and a thriving market. From New Amsterdam you can get to Crabwood Creek (about 45 miles away) via the Corentyne or to the East Canje area of Berbice. A road also leads up the Berbice river bank to the town of Mara about 25 miles away.

There are several hotels in the town: Church View Guest House, Astor Hotel, Parkway Hotel and Little Rock.

I've got plenty of last minute preparations, but things are really starting to come together. After struggling with the maximum luggage allowance during my trip to France a couple of years ago, I'm determined to travel light this time around and restrict myself to one suitcase and one carry on. This is a little unsettling; the prospect of taking half the amount of stuff for twice the length of time makes me feel like I'm going to forget something important, but I'll probably be thankful later.

Going public and miscellaneous facts

In honor of making the blog officially public, here's a brief geography and history lesson on this interesting country:


-Guyana is on the northern coast of the continent. It is bordered by Venezuela on the west, Suriname on the east, and Brazil on the south.

-The border is closed between Venezuela and Guyana due to a longstanding border dispute, so there are no roads between them.

-As a former British colony, Guyana is the only English speaking country in South America. Writing on the board next year is going to be quite interesting until I learn the British spelling of words!

-The population is about 750,000, mostly concentrated around Georgetown, the capital

-Guyana is home to one of the most pristine tropical rainforests. It also has Kaiteur falls, which is considered the largest single drop waterfall in the world (by volume of water that flows over it. It is not tallest--that title goes to Angel Falls in Venezuela).

-The population is primarily East Indian and Afro-Guyanese. There are also small populations of Amerindian (the indigenous people) Chinese, and Caucasian citizens.

-The ancestors of the Afro-Guyanese were brought by the British as slaves. When Britain abolished slavery, these former slaves refused to continue working on the plantations, so the British transported East Indians to Guyana to replace them as laborers.

-Due to its history, the culture is more similar to the Caribbean islands than to the other Latin American countries in S.A., and Guyana is a member of Caricom, a group of 15 Caribbean nations whose goal is to promote economic integration and cooperation


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And to wrap up, a brief note about Jonestown, which is featured in the article I linked to:

The People's Temple Agricultural Project, also known as Jonestown, was home to members of a cult led by Jim Jones. In November of 1978, 918 people died in a mass suicide after drinking cyanide-laced kool-aid on Jim Jones' order. This incident is the second largest loss of American lives not related to a natural disaster, after September 11th. U.S. congressman Leo Ryan, who had gone to Guyana to investigate complaints against the cult, was shot and killed. He is the only congressman to die in the line of duty.

So the next time you hear or see the phrase "drink the kool-aid", you'll know that this may be its origin...

This is not the best quality map, but it was the only one I could find with Jonestown marked. Click for a larger size.

Guyana in the News

Saw an article about Jonestown in the New York Times, and decided to repost it here. I plan to blog on general information about Guyana, including Jonestown, once finals are over.

WORLD

Can Ghosts Bring Life to Jonestown Cult Compound?

By SIMON ROMERO

Published: May 2, 2010

Residents near the former cult compound where 900 Americans died in 1978 said they were interested in drawing more tourists to the site.

Testing the Waters

As of today, I'm officially part of WorldTeach Guyana 2010! I was accepted into the program two months ago, and the day I found out I was both excited and relieved that I wouldn't be working at starbucks until I got into med school! When I finished the confirmation process today it felt good to complete the first stage of actually getting there. Now for the hard part: four months of shots, doctors appointments, and working so that I have money to live on, not to mention finishing school and taking the MCAT! This process reminds me of going through the preparations for studying abroad in France two years ago (has it really been two years already??).

Since I confirmed today, I decided to go ahead and set up my blog. I don't think I'm going to update this much until I'm actually on the way to South America, but after reading a bunch of blog posts by Peace Corps volunteers last night (instead of sleeping...), I felt inspired to start my own. Although there weren't that many blogs for Guyana volunteers, I did learn some useful tidbits about what to expect when I get there. Information about Guyana is very limited, so finding the Peace corps stuff was really nice. Hopefully the people who are now going to their sites continue to update so that I can learn from them and better prepare myself for the transition.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough for now. Chances are I'll change the blog layout in the future, but for now, here it is!